1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a magazine for a powered nail-driving tool, more particularly to a magazine capable of accommodating a plurality of stacked nail strips.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,414 B1 discloses a conventional magazine for a nail-driving power tool. The conventional magazine includes a separating member interposed between a stacking opening in a nail-supplying member and a standby zone of a feeding tray, and having a plurality of keyways that extend in a longitudinal direction. The conventional magazine further includes a gate member having a plurality of keys. The keys are are slidable along the keyways, respectively, such that the separating member is movable with the gate member relative to the nail-supplying member in the longitudinal direction. In use, an operating block is operable to pull the gate member to move along a retracting course, and then the gate member is pulled along with the separating member away from the stacking opening.
However, the manufacturing process of the keyways in the gate member is relatively complicated. Besides, foreign particles, such as metal debris, may accumulate between the separating member and the gate member, thereby obstructing the movement of the operating block. Moreover, when the operating block is pulled, a force is required to overcome the biasing force of springs so as to move the gate member. Afterward, a larger force is required for moving the gate member along with the separating member away from the stacking opening, thereby resulting in inconvenience during use. Furthermore, when the operating block is released, it is relatively difficult for the gate member as well as the separating member to separate accurately a lowermost layer of nails from the remaining layers of nails. In addition, when it is desired to load only one nail strip, it is still necessary to load the same via the stacking opening, which results in a troublesome process.